How to Install the Easiest Attic / Loft Lights
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Working in the attic or loft is not a pleasant experience so watch me as I show you how to do most of the work somewhere more comfortable and install the lighting you really want without the need for an Electrician.
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Your channel has helped me tremendously. May you be blessed forever
I followed your example to the letter when providing lighting in my daughter’s loft in Sheffield last week. It’s now the brightest space in the house. .
Did all the prep as you showed sat at the dining table.
A great help, thanks!
I like the idea of the mdf backboard. Todays top tip is, when terminating cables in a switch, socket, etc… don’t cut the earth cable at the same length as live & neutral. Leave the earth cable longer so that if, for any reason, the cable/flex is pulled out the earth cable is the last cable that loses connection. 👌
Same applies to wiring plugs
Top tip mate
Yup. Good tip. It should be common knowledge as well as common sense, but when you start rummaging around wiring done by allegedly trained professionals, it's not always done that way...
Glad even the best DIYers swears at some jobs lol. Looking forward to the boarding out and what ingenious cost effective ways you come up with to board over the insulation.
When I did my attic I put some temporary loft boards down to enable me to use a small step ladder and provide safe places to stand. Once the wiring was complete I added the loft legs, insulation and boarded it out. Sometimes a temporary fix saves lots of time and improves safety and comfort. Glad you didn't put your foot through the roof and good money saving idea using pendants.
I've installed pendants in my loft too. I absolutely agree that these offer a big advantage if you happen to knock against them with your head, and modern LED bulbs don't feel too hot if you brush against them. It's a good approach if the slope of your pitch roof is shallow and you don't have much head room.
I think if it was me I would've taken a piece of flooring or timber up to lay across the joists, then you wouldn't have needed to balance on the joists. You could've also taken a sturdy toolbox to stand on too to give you the extra height so you don't need to re fix them higher later on. But other than that, yes it's a good idea. Thanks for sharing 👍
couple short boards + a milk crate to stand on
Absolutely Janine. You took the words right out of my mouth. 👍
I also forgot to mention. When I did my loft, I fixed CLS battens across from rafter to rafter, a bit like a collar tie, then put Chipboard flooring across for the shelves. I was able to make large shelves for storage. That way it keeps everything off of the floor and you have more room too.
Love you stuff Stuart - some great tips, so many thanks. But why didn't you show us a fully wired up bulb? After all the detail of what could be done, there was too little detail about what was done.
Absolutely great idea, I bought and connected the pendant to the wiring and fitted in a day. By the end of the week I have fitted loft boards on loft legs, now I have so much more usable storage space.
Looking forward to your video on insulating and boarding out the loft. Mine already has the flooring, but everything is covered in dirt as the angled roof sections are just the original boards with the tiles on the outside. It’s a 1935 detached house, and I’ve been putting off doing this job for ages, partly due to the amount of ‘relics’ accumulated up there, over the years! One day I will have a good clear out, or so I keep promising ’she who must be obeyed’!
Thanks Stuart. I've just installed the same set up in my loft after seeing this. Brilliant idea for someone not comfortable enough with electrics to install a full socket
I still have engine bay inspection lamps clamped to my rafters, works great, but always meant to be a temporary solution. Move on 10 years and still doing a great job.
A shot of the final wiring in the light fitting would have been nice
Brilliant idea ! This is in my opinion the best instructive DIY channel on UA-cam!!
I'm glad you think so! Very nice to get comments like these after putting in many hours making these videos.
Ditto
You can now get LED battens in various sizes e.g. 5ft length, which have the advantage of not using so much headroom and starting much better in cold weather compared to older fluorescents.
Just finished installing the same setup in my loft after being inspired by your video. It was pretty straightforward and works really well. Quite cheap to do too. Thanks for the video!
Excellent well done!
Thanks for the inspiration Stuart. I've just installed this in my loft today. Without your video I'd have probably made do with an inspection light on a hook. This is a much more useful solution 👍
Stuart,
Thank you so much for this inspiration. I am visiting my parents in Ireland to help insulate their loft and put this setup together. All put together and tested in the workshop/living room. Working a treat.
Plus I got to buy some new tools 🔧 ☺️
Nice one!
Top man, my son and I just finished putting the lights in. Thank you, great video.
From experience working in the loft, always take a small grandchild up with you when attempting this. Not as you may think to sit on your shoulders to use the drill and hammer to fix the lights and cables you are struggling to reach. But for their useful questions like; “Grandad why did Sue say be careful not to fall through the ceiling” etc.
It’s a great job. Fortunately my son in law is an electrician, so did this job for me. Its a very neat solution you have come up with and good advice not to cut into cables that you think you have traced correctly as a light circuit.
Will be interested to see how you do the boarding and storage and update the insulation, especially around the hatch. With ours as soon as the lights were installed I could see a large gap around the hatch when switched on.
No small children available here at the moment I'm afraid. Just thinking about lugging all the chipboard up there is enough to get me shaking - I will have to take a deep breath and do it at some time
Another great video Stuart, refreshing to find someone who clearly plans it and delivers it in a professional manner
Thank you very much!
Thank you very much for the informative video. It's always good to see an effective workaround for some of the more 'daunting' jobs for the everyday DIYer.
Another masterful touch with the audio when you take the ear protectors off around 8:29 - Spielberg-level work!
I will never forget a friend of mine yesrs ago who clipped a whole load of cables along the length of his loft only to find when he had finished that he had also clipped his tail light cable in with them LOL. As far as I know the tail light is still in the loft. Nice video, think I will do the same when I come to board my loft.
Nice one! I did check twice before cutting them all!
Although this may be a simple cheap and cheerful DIY job I always thought it’s better to run loft lighting from a socket circuit fused down as if you are working on the lighting circuit and it’s isolated there will be no power in the loft so you have to mess around with additional lamps and torches. I’ve done this before and it works a treat but now I’ve spurred it off one of the sockets on the landing and put in a fused switched connection unit with 5amp fuse in it so that you don’t have to spend more time plugging it in etc. I have my fuse spur mounted on the side by the hatch and it works really well! Nothing wrong with your work at all matey and a good video for anyone who’s wanting to just get a quick lighting job done up the loft! 👍🏻
I wouldn't call this a simple DIY job. That's something like changing a lightbulb or wall socket not this lol
@@rs-qt1qg in most cases it’s what your average DIY guy would do just to get some lights going but some who have more experience with electrics will take a spur off the sockets below so when the 6amp lighting circuit trips or is being worked on from the loft above it’s backed up by a spur fused down to 5amp so it won’t be pitch black lol
Thats a prime space for a full loft conversion. Would make an awesome vid
You're right - maybe sometime in the future
Attic lights make all the difference!! Great video. Thank you for sharing.
looking forward to you doing the flooring and storage as this is a job waiting for me but not confident without good guidance , from yourself of course regards
What a brilliant idea to do all of the fiddly stuff in the workshop! I can't recall the number of times I've struggled with wiring etc in the loft or in some inaccessible space.
Greetings again from South Africa, once again we are in the dark here, load shedding, thanks for this one Stuart, you take care up in that loft….
Thanks. Nice to see you watching SA again - Dankie
I had really hoped you had something on your channel for how to deal with the walking on the attic. Now you have the lights, but you are still walking on the studs.
Easy cheap walkway please? :D
Great video thanks. I have a similar setup with just one bulb, so I am going to do this soon. Just a thought I wonder if showing us a final picture of how you wired the rose after explaining how you had to alter the wires. This might help others watching. ?? 👍
I use you as an excuse, when my wife ask me to do a diy job around the house, I tell her “ yes I’ll do that as soon as PD shows me how to do it
I know what to do” 🥴
So it's my fault!
Innit, what kinda MAN are u ?? 😂
Excellent job.
I'm looking forward to you boarding out your loft.
I used a 5M led strip light all the way along, easy and cheap and good light spread. Had to run a cable to both ends to avoid voltage drop along the length of the LED.
Lol done exactly same thing, the I didn't need to run a cable the other end. Seems weird
@@royalstevep68 led lights dim along their length due to internal resistance, the far end will be dimmer than the start of the run. You can fix this by splicing in power every few metres.
Splendid video... Pretty sure I wouldn't be hammering in cable clips onto powered up cable!
Tip: mount lights on alternate sides for a slightly more even overall illumination😁 I have one light up there…I might take your approach and fit it out properly!
Another great video and a great idea. This is a job I need to do and you make it look so doable…… Also it was great to meet you this week. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! Nice to meet you. As I said send me an email (you'll find the address in the About tab) and I'll send you what I said.
For those with a socket in the loft and the socket isn't in an easily accessible location to the loft hatch then you could quite easily add a pull cord switch to the junction box with some additional flex. The wiring is slightly different, but trivial once you look up a diagram. You'll also need two of the pieces of brown insulation to signify the switched live conductor in the junction box and in the pull cord. You can then leave the plug plugged in.
Please do a video on boarding your loft!
Looking forward to seeing the loft board project next!
You and me both!
Great channel with so many useful projects. Thank You!
@13:10 I get this. Which is why I have been slowly but surely flooring my attic with runs of sub floor or with 'lily pad(s)'
Thanks Stuart, I will be installing that in the new year.
Glad to help
Excellent video just what I was looking for. Can you do a video showing how to put sockets in the loft. I want to build a railway up there. Thanks
Great job. I know how important it is to get lighting up in the loft.
Thank you
This is what we planned to do originally, in fact we got as far as wiring in the first one then left it for 5 years! Lucky for us there was a socket right underneath the loft hatch so it took literally 2 seconds to plug it in.
In the end, since we had a few 5m LED tape strips left over from another project we ended up just putting them up along the ridge board, which gives a bright, even light across the whole loft!
Nice job 👍 again .
Couple of points to mention
1 why wasn’t you wearing a marks wile in the loft ? 2 when you do your calculations for fuse ratings you should use 230v not the nominal voltage of 240 , you installed 12 ten watt LED lamps so 12 x 10 = 120 watts divide by 230v = 0.52 AMPs so a 3amp fuse would be suitable in the plug top . 3 it would have been better to find the last lighting point on the upstairs circuit and then take a feed from there to your first light in the loft then down to a new switch on the landing.
Great video though and it nice to see someone not showing DIYers how to do complex and dangerous electrical work 👍👍❤️ . I look forward to seeing more from you keep up the good work
Sean, the fuse sizing is to protect the wiring not the load
Hey PD sorry I'm late I've been busy in the garden before the weather gets worse 🙃.
There is something about seeing/hearing a usually composed person loose their cool and speak French 🤣.
Also I'm observant not nit picking......your loft ladder.....the section attached to the door hatch needs adjustment so you can safely put your feet on the rungs.
If you look at the two plates either side that have the slots in, you need to loosen the bolts slightly and pull the ladder away from the door/hatch then tighten them again in the captive position. If you don't understand what i mean please take a look at one skill builders latest videos about the keylight loft ladder installation.
All the best 👍🏼
I finished this project last weekend. They work well and look great. Will you be doing other loft videos? I need to board my loft but I'll hold off of you're going to do a video on the subject. Thanks for the great content
Very good video Sir to give an idea you can make another video teaching how to install an outlet in the attic for that purpose appreciate sharing your knowledge
A couple of LED floods work really well. Same wiring method if you want to do it that way
Thanks for this video, I’ve just installed my own this weekend after being inspired by this video. Instead of a junction box, I opted to use Wago connectors which are super simple to fit. Loved the idea of MDF backing, so did something similar with some spare off cuts of timber. Keep up the great content. Thanks
really enjoy your videos, properly informative and instructive and you are wonderfully engaging and interesting. Greatly admire your work. thank you sir! x
you made it so easy and simple
Great video Stuart nice easy job for the DIY person… I replaced my old strip lights last year with LED batons really bright now 👍👍👍👍
Nice one!
Cracking video. FYI your Keylite loft ladder is not properly adjusted. The 4 brackets held in with hex key need extending which gives you more toe room on the treads where it joins the hatch
Would love to see a video on how to fit loft insulation to go along with this
great idea
I'm looking forward to more videos on loft insulation and boarding, especially the hatch door. I can't find any good videos on how to insulate the door with the equivalent of 17cm of wool that is compatible with having a ladder too... I would appreciate advice on a few options maybe?
OK - I think I can do something for you.
@@ProperDIY thanks! I'll definitely use your method for the lights btw
I’d like to see this too. Even making the hatch would be great, I made an absolute dog’s dinner of mine when changing from a push up to a drop down hatch!
Take a feed from a bedroom ceiling light, the power is already in your loft. And just put a switch near to the loft hatch. A lot easier than having to plug it in every time you want to use it..
I find that a 4 ft by 2ft 3/4" sheet of ply ideal in the loft as you can easily move it to where you are working. A small home made hop up provides for extra height.
@Andy Farmer Yep a proper DIY guy would use somethings like that, unfortunately Mr PD has some strange ideas....
@@135Ops I have ben blessed with short legs and two left feet so anything to make the job easier.
Hi, what a great idea and would love to do this,any chance you could show a bit more detail on how you wired the ceiling rose up and so on.
You closed it to soon 😆.
Yes I’ve done exactly the same. Well done.
Excellent
Very good and informative video, well thought out. I'd be buggering about in the loft.
Thank you
Used a pir on my set up just above the hatch , on when you open and off when you leave….😉
Hi great video as usual. Tip from Skill Builder with the loft hatch adjust it so the treads have a bit of a gap from the hatch so its more comfortable climbing up the ladder with space for your boots to go. In future you could run the cable down to the consumer unit and pay a leckie to connect the lights up. My loft came with a 12 inch plank running lengthwise on the joists for a walkway.
Thanks. I'll have to try that
In a loft there is usually no point in disturbing the house to run down to the consumer unit. You can usually gain fairly easy access to the circuit going into one of the upstairs lights. You then add the attic lights to the upstairs lighting circuit. There should be no issues with load if you are using LED's. You then have a choice of fitting a suitable switch near the hatch in the attic, a string switch on a beam above the hatch so you can switch it on while still on the ladder or if you want to decorate the landing drop a wire to switch outside the attic.
Great job, and good idea to do the work ahead of the install. 👍👍
What i did was keep the old light fittings every time i upgraded so its very interesting with all the old style lights not cost a penny
Now that would make a really different looking loft! Nice one
@@ProperDIY Thanks
I’m going to do the same after watching this inspiring idea , however I’m going to connect a switch rather than use an extension cable to a socket in a room below the loft!
Another great video. Thanks Stuart - keep up the great work 👍🏻
Thanks, will do!
THANK YOU!
Could you have taken a small board up into the loft to stand on (it would span several joists and much easier to balance on)?
Brilliant. Great job for entry into diy electrics. I will definitely be doing this. Thank you. Do you have a "suggestions box" for future ideas because I often run into things I can't find on youtube. Cheers
Thank you. Yes, just send me an email - the address is in the 'About' tab on my YT page.
Great job as usual. Have a great weekend 👍😃
Thank you
Are you going to be using loft legs to board over the insulation?
May have been easier Stuart to temporary a place a couple of scaffolding planks up there to stand on before you started? it looked a nightmare balancing on the joists trying to screw in the fittings..
Proper job mate. Excellent video as always. You have got to stop these mate. If my misses see this,that’s another job for me to do. 😂
I do apologise. You'll need to watch the channel when no one is looking!
Great advice. Thank you
Great video. I’d like to do something like this but didn’t really understand the initial rose wiring.
Fabulous video ...gets me inspired
I'm glad
Just a thought. If you will be moving them to a final higher position as soon as you have laid more insulation and boarded, surely a lower very light fitting with one screw and no cable clips would reduce the strain and danger of overreaching! Oh, and can we see how the pendants are actually wired in their finished state. Cheers
Why you didn’t take up and lay a few boards on the ceiling joists is interesting. Preparing a temporary walkway would have been so helpful.🤔
I like the pre assembled light in string. plus the trailing lead means that you don't forget to switch the lights off! That reminds me I need to fit an indicator light to my installation, any bright ideas that don't involve cutting a ceiling mounted neon or led into the circuit?
Making the world better one job at a time👍🏾
Living up to your channel name as usual mate 👏 another thorough and precise video 👍 very enLIGHTening 😆👍
I'm glad you're enjoying them
Great tutorial once again!
Made me chuckle at 13:58 "Go on you F#@&£#" We've all been there 😁👍
I'm there more often than people realise!
I did this, but skipped the hassle of making my own lights. A local hardware store had LED string lights in 50’ lengths that are meant for job sites, ranging in brightness from 1500 lumens all the way up to a blinding 7500. I also ran a few sets of them in my crawlspace for when I need to poke around down there.
Thats a good solution if you can find them for sure
Great idea 👍
This is a brilliant idea being able to make it up and just plug it in. When will you be doing the attic storage video?
Nice job 👍
I have a high pitched roof, and I find LED battens give a much more even light than bulbs. They mount very easily spanning two or three trusses or rafters, depending on the length of the batten. The LED battens are just clipped on, so that is easy. The only complication is that you need a junction box as each one as they have fairly short captive cables, although that's easy enough using wagos in those little junction boxes that clip onto a lug screwed to some woodwork. So far, I've only fitted one as that seems to illuminate the fairly large storage loft space very well. I fit a switch close to the loft hatch.
Also, as far as I'm aware it is not notifiable to fit lighting and connect it to the existing lighting circuit unless it is in a "special location", and I don't think a loft counts as that. Of course you should never do that unless 100% competent. It's also easy to trace lighting circuits from the fittings, although you will need to check what sort it is. The old loop through the roses is easy, but house with permanent neutrals in the light switches may be different as they can loop through via the switches with a separate switched wire (although that's not the only way to do permanent neutrals).
Also, in my case, I have very thick insulation and used a raised boarding system by LoftZone, which I found to be excellent. Fortunately, as I have that steeply raked roof I still have lots of headroom.
A good call pre-assembling in the workshop, making the installation a whole lot easier, except....
Balancing on rafters is never good practice, an accident waiting to happen, that can have dire consequences in terms of your own safety and potential major rectification work.
As my father drummed into me... a moment of inattention causes accidents.
A length of mdf or ply to use as a crawl board takes very little time and effort and could be a lifesaver👍
SAFETY FIRST.... DIY SECOND👌
I personally would have used battern lampholders rather than having bulbs dangling in the way, makes changing a bulb a one-handed job too. Could also pre-attach and wire to a length of 3x1 then just a couple of screws into the truss.
Nice install, if only I could actually get into my roof space 😫
Nice with some lightning, however I did not understand why u had to put a fuse in the socket but maybe it’s standard procedure in UK? Thanks for great videos!
Yes all UK plugs have fuses
I was toying with the idea of building a sauna. Then I realised I could just spend some time up in my loft. Doesn't matter if it's winter, 20 minutes up there and I'm sweating like a Geordie in a spelling test.
Exactly! Someone who knows what it's like up there!
Boarding the attic was the best thing I ever did. Why not use a crawl board though to save the foot through scenario? Just place it where you're working? Another question Stuart, when do you start A Patreon for DIY advice? ;) Got some fencing questions...... and a curtain rail that keeps coming off as you can't get a deep enough rawlplug as there's a Catnic right behind it.... short of welding.... ;)
Thank you, very interesting set up, much better doing it all in the workshop rather than loft ;-)
Should 0.75mm wire be ok for one bulb? It keeps tripping my circuit breaker.... Would thicker cable fix this?
Another enjoyable episode Stuart, most enlightening. Ever thought of installing an off-grid style solar & wind unit with a electric generator to use and store some free wattage?
Ohh I want to do this in my next gaff.
I think I would have considered cutting a length of timber/mdf for each run and attached all the light fittings to those at the bench first and then fitted those lengths onto the roof timbers, balancing them on a couple of pre-fitted brackets below the beam that you fitted them onto. That way, you would have only had to add a few fixings per length, at a more manageable height. However, I only thought of that once I watched you struggling with the height!
Maybe I should have just fixed them 4" lower?